CONVEITTION FOR COMMON SCHOOLS, TRENTON. 
An address. 
1838. 



LIBRARY 

BUREAU or EDUCATION 




t>Oar»g.^ drear qt:. Wq^ I OQTj^- t ; ^ 

TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY, 
ON THE SUBJECT OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 




^^°^'<7=T?V 






X 



Ci^rll"^^ 



.:::_ an address 

^ TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY, ON THE SUBJECT 

4- OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

^7 



Fellow citizens, 

We were appointed by the Convention of 
your own delegates, whi@k^oo ei iiii ' l9k'd w n'< )ii iiBar i OM i to]a| ii< iiii 
tkm w li Q^w m ' l^iM i Q , to address you, on the subject of Com- 
' MON Schools. We approach you with solicitude, as 
deeply sensible of the great importance of the interest 
entrusted to us ; yet, as freemen speaking to freemen, 
with prevailing confidence. 

The points which we propose for your attention, 
and, if we might, would press into every heart, are few, 
simple, and practical ; the necessary consequences, 
it seems to us, from principles which all admit. We 
say that knowledge is the universal right of man: and 
we need bring no clearer demonstration than that in- 
fcllectual nature, capable of it, thirsting for it, expand- 
ing and aspiring with it, which is God's own argu- 
ment in every living soul. We say that the assertion 
for himself of this inherent right, to the full measure 
of his abilities and opportunities, is the universal duty 
of man : and that whoever fails of it, thwarts the de- 
sign of his Creator; and. in proportion as he neglects 
the gift of God, dwarfs and enslaves and brutifies the 
high capacity for truth and liberty which he inherits. 
And all experience, and every page of history confirm 
the assertion, in the close kindred, which has every 

1 



where been proved, of ignorance and vice with wretch- 
edness and slavery. And we say farther, that the 
security of this inherent right to every individual, 
and its extension, in the fullest measure, to the great- 
est number, is the universali?iterest of man; so that 
they who deny or abridge it to their fellows, or who 
encourage, or, from want of proper influence, permit, 
them to neglect it, are undermining the foundations 
of government, weakening the hold of society, and 
p];gff^pLng; J:b|£t jAaay.fQr, thatiiunsettling and dissolving 
of all human institutions, which must res,uU<i.n«i«iiar£li^» 
and ruin, and in which they who have the greatest 
stake must be the greatest sufferers. A lesson, clear- 
ly taught by that divine philosophy, in which the 
Maker of mankind becomes their Teacher , reveals 
the world as but one neighbourhood, and men as 
brethren of one family ; and writes upon all social in- 
stitutions these golden truths, the fundam.entals and 
essentials of the true political economy, which neither 
individuals nor nations have ever disregarded with 
impunity,— " all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them"-/ 
" none of us liveth to himself"—" whether one mem- 
ber suff"er, all the members suffer with it ; or one 
member be honoured, aU the members rejoice with 
it "— " bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the 
law of Christ." 

If the truth of these position be established, their 
application is self-evident. And there never was a 
nation, since the world was made, in which their ob- 
ligation was so clear, or its application so important. 
In the theory of our Constitution, the people are the 



governors. In practice, they ought to be. And is 
ignorance the qualification for good government? 
Would you select a man to make your laws who can- 
not read ? Or one who cannot write.to execute them ? 
Yet the authority which they exercise, and the abuses 
of which they are capable, are nothing, in compari- 
son with theirs from whom all power proceeds, and 
without whose permission no wrong can be done. 
Fellow citizens, we are republicans. Our country is 
our common wealth. We have all an equal share in 
her. Her laws are alike for the protection of all. 
Her institutions are alike for the advantage of all. 
Her blessings are our common privilege. Her glory 
is our common pride. But common privileges im- 
pose a common responsibility. And equal rights can 
never be disjoined from equal duties. The Constitu- 
tion which, under God, secures our liberties, is in the 
keeping of us all. It is a sacred trust which no man 
can delegate. He holds it for himself, not only, but 
for his children, for posterity, and for the w^orld. 
And he who cannot read it, who does not understand 
its provisions, who could not, on a just occasion, as- 
sert its principles, no more sustains the character of 
an American citizen, than the man who would not 
seal it with his blood. 

It is in vain to say that education is a private 
matter, and that it is the duty of every parent to pro- 
vide for the instruction of his own children. In 
theory, it is so. But there are some who cannot, 
and there are more who will not, make provision. 
And the question then is, shall the State suffer from in- 
dividual inability, or from individual neglect? When 



the child, who has not been trained up in the way 
in which he ought to go, commits a crime against 
the State, the law, with iron hand, comes in between 
the parent and his offspring, and takes charge of the 
offender. And shall there be provision to punish^ 
only, and none to prevent ? Shall the only offices 
in which the State is known be those of jailer and 
of executioner ? Shall she content herself with the 
stern attribute of justice, and discard the gentler 
ministries of mercy ? It was said of Draco's laws, 
that they were writ with blood. Is it less true of 
any state which makes provision for the w^hipping 
post, the penitentiary, the scaffold, and leaves the 
education of her children to individual effort or pre- 
carious charity ? It was well said by the distinguished 
head of our Judiciary,* even more distinguished as 
the President of the late Convention for Common 
Schools, " the State has an interest in every child 
within her limits." May not still more than this, 
with equal truth, be said, — the welfare, nay, the 
being of the State, is bound up in the character 
of every child? Think of the blessings which 
Washinorton and Franklin and Fulton and Marshall 
have brought down upon our land ! Think of the 
scorn and execration which the name of Arnold brings 
with it, the single name in our whole history, at 
which the nation needs to blush ! 

If the positions be maintained, that the education 
of the people is indispensable to the preservation of free 



• Chief Justice Hornblowcr, by his deportment as the presiding officer of the 
Convention, added new dignity to his office, and to himself. 



institutions, and that it is therefore the duty of every \ 
free state to provide for the education of her children ; \ 
we are prepared, fellow citizens, for the inquiry, how I 
far has provision been made for the discharge of this \ 
duty, in the state, rvith rvhich we are most intimately I 
connected, the State of New Jersey ? That the duty j 
of making some provision for this end has long been 
recognized, the twenty one years which have elapsed 
since the passage of the first act, "to create a fund for 
the support of free schools," sufficiently attest. That 
what has been done is insufficient, you have your- 
selves borne witness, in the general impulse which, 
in December and January last, originated so many of 
those primary assemblies — in our republic, the true 
sources of power and influence — for the consideration 
of this subject; and in that large, intelligent, and 
most respectable Convention, composed of delegates, 
chosen by yourselves, to express your own views on 
the provisions for the public instruction, by which it 
was resolved, with singular unanimity, that "the gen- 
eral laws of this state on the subject of Common 
Schools, are essentially defective, and ought to be re- 
pealed." Into the question, what shall be substituted 
for the present law, the Convention did not enter. It 
was for them to declare the wishes of the people for 
a more effective system of instruction. The plan and 
its provisions, they left, with perfect confidence, to the 
wisdom of the Legislature. The course which the 
Convention pursued is even more becoming for us. 
The rather, as the matter is at this very moment in 
the course of legislative action. And after all, fellow 
citizens, the question, what the law is, is by no 



means so important as the question, what is public 
sentiment ? If the people are but right, the Legisla- 
ture never will be greatly wrong. Or, if they should, 
the remedy is easy, and the cure infallible. ]' 

Omitting all considerations, then, of what has been, 
or of what may be legislative enactments on the sub- 
ject, we address you, as the Sovereign People, and we 
say, that it is your duty, and your highest interest, to 
provide and to maifitain, within the reach of every 
child, the meajis of such an educatio7i as rvill qualify 
him to discharge the duties of a citizen of the Republic; 
and will enable him, by subsequent exertion, in the 
free exercise of the unconquerable will, to attain the 
highest eminence in knowledge and in power which 
God may place within his reach. We utterly repu- 
diate, as unworthy, not of freemen only, but of men, 
the narrow notion, that there is to be an education for 
the poor, as such. Has God provided for the poor a 
coarser earth, a thinner air, a paler sky 1 Does not 
the glorious Sun pour down his golden flood as 
cheerily upon the poor man's hovel as upon the rich 
man's palace ? Have not the cotter's children as 
keen a sense of all the freshness, verdure, fragrance, 
melody and beauty of luxuriant nature, as the pale 
sons of kings? Or is it on the mind, that God has 
stamped the imprint of a baser birth, so that the poor 
man's child knows, with an inborn certainty, that his 
lot is to crawl, not climb ? It is not so. God has not 
done it. Man cannot do it. Mind is immortal. Mind 
is imperial. It bears no mark of high or low, of rich 
or poor. It heeds no bound of time or place, of rank 
or circumstance. It asks but freedom. It requires 



but light. It is heaven-born, and it aspires to hea- 
ven. Weakness does not enfeeble it. Poverty can- 
not repress it. Difficulties do but stimulate its vig- 
our. And the poor tallow chandler's son, that sits 
up all the night, to read the book vv^hich an appren- 
tice lends him, lest the master's eye should miss it in 
the morning, shall stand and treat with kings, shall 
add new provinces to the domain of science, shall 
bind the lightning with a hempen cord, and. bring it 
harmless from the skie^* The Common School is 
common, not as inferior, not as the school for poor 
men's children, but as the light and air are common. 
It ought to be the best school, because it is the first 
school ; and in all good works the beginning is one 
half. Who does not know the value to a community 
of a plentiful supply of the pure element of water ? 
Arid infinitely more than this is the instruction of the 
Common School ; for it is the fountain at which the 
mind drinks, and is refreshed and strengthened for 
its career of usefulness and glory. 

Fellow citizens, it is the wise ordinance of God that 
man shall work for what he values. In all the deal- 
ings of your ordinary life, you act upon the principle. 
You plough your fields. You urge your spindles. 
You ply your fisheries. You tend your shops. With 
sweat of brow, or sweat of brain, each precious thing 
that man possesses must be gained and kept. At no 
less price, can liberty and its attendant blessings be 
enjoyed. " That which makes a good constitution," 
said wise and prudent William Penn,-f "must also 
keep it, men of wisdom and of virtue : . qualities, 

* See Franklin's Life. f Preface to the Frame of Government, 1682. 



which, because they descend not with inheritance, 
must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education 
of youth." Ask not, then, when we enjoin on you 
the duty of providing for the public instruction, where 
the cost shall come from ''^ Were your house beset 
with robbers, would yo" 'Stop to ask the cost of its 
defence ? If an invading army were to land to-mor- 
row on our shores, must we stop, to count the cost, 
before we march to meet, and to repel them ? The 
Common Schools are in the place to us of arms and 
troops and fleets. They are our nurseries of men. 
They are indeed "the cheap defence of nations." 

What constitutes a State ! 
Not high-raised battlements or laboured mound, 

Thick wall, or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned, 

Not bays and broad-armed ports. 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts. 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 

No — Men, high-minded Men. 
* * * * * 

Men who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain; 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain : 

These constitute a State.* 

Fellow citizens, it is for you to say what shall be 
the present character, what shall be the future desti- 
ny of New Jersey. We have indeed a goodly herit- 
age. But it has been long and shamefully neglected. 
We have undervalued our privileges. We have 
overlooked our duties. We have been content to be 
a pendent merely, when we are and ought to be an 
independent state. There is now, thank God, the 



* Sir William Jones, in imitation of Alcaeus. 



sound as of a trumpet, in the land, that stirs the old 
heroic blood. We feel the remnant sparks of the for- 
gotten fire which warmed our fathers' hearts. The 
spirit of the elder day is breathing on us, with its 
quickening and invigorating power. Let us accept 
the omen. Let us obey t ^ noble impulse. Let us 
arise to duty and to glory. Men of New Jersey, it is 
you that are to rise. You are the State. You create 
and you control the Legislature. You enact and you 
sustain the laws. Yours are the means. Yours is 
the influence. Yours is the work. You make, 'i/ou 
are the State. Go on, as you have now begun. The 
system of Common Schools, which shall be adopted 
by the present Legislature, take into your own hands. 
If it is not what it should be, see that the next Legis- 
lature make it such. Act together. Act with sys- 
tem. Act like men. The organization for the pur- 
pose is complete. The General Committee, the Com- 
mittees of correspondence for the counties, the Com- 
mittees of the townships — there is not an inch of 
ground that is not reached, there is not a citizen of 
New Jersey whose heart may not be roused, by 
this electric chain. Lay to your hands, then, and 
employ it well. The work is great, and great must 
be the eifort, and great the confidence. You must 
trust yourselves. You must trust your fellow citizens. 
You must trust the Legislature. A system of public 
instruction is a great and arduous enterprize. You 
must repose such confidence in those who are to frame 
it, as shall enable them to do it well. When it is 
framed, you will do wisely to commit its oversight, 
subject to legislative supervision, to a judicious 



10 

Board,* selected carefully from your most tried and 
faithful men, with wisdom to direct, and with devo- 
tion to exert its powers. Above all, give the direc- 
tion of the engine, with a large and liberal discre- 
tion, to a skilful Engineer. And when it is made, 
and manned, and set in operation, you must still sup- 
port it, you must watch over it, you must be your- 
selves a part of it. The School-fund is not equal to 
the work. And if it were, it would not be so well for 
you. Tax yourselves for the support of Common 
Schools, and you will never be in danger of taxation 
from a foreign power — you will need less taxation for 
the support of pauperism, and the punishment of 
crime. Look to your school houses. See that they 
are convenient of access, that they are comfortable, 
that they are neat and tasteful. Look to the teachers. 
See that they are taught themselves, and apt to 
teach ; men that fear God, and love their country. 
See that they are well accommodated, well treated, 
well remunerated. Respect them, and they will re- 
spect themselves, and your children will respect 
them. Look to the scholars. Have them much in 
your eye, and always in your heart. Remember, 
you are to grow old among them. Remember, you 
are to die, and leave your country in their hands. 



* It is said that there aie prejudices against a Board of Education, and a Su- 
/ perintendent. We can hardly think that they are general. If so, our appeal is to 
\ the good, sterling, common sense of the people of New Jersey. Is there a turn- 
pike road, or a steamboat, or a Bank, or a cotton factory, whose affairs are not 
entrusted to a Board of Managers 1 Is there a mill in all the State without a 
miller, or a locomotive in the land without an Engineer 1 Is the education of the 
people less important than all these ? Or is the system of public education to be 
the only case of a machine that goes alone? 



11 

" Good Common Schools," says Governor Everett, 
of Massachusetts, " are the basis of every wise sys- 
tem of popular education." This is precisely what 
they are, the basis of a system ; but the basis only. 
Let us now lay their broad foundations, deep and 
strong — foundations, that will stand themselves, and 
bear the noble structure which our children and our 
children's children, as we trust, will rear upon them. 
We are the citizens of a small state. We cannot, 
by our votes, control the electoral college. We can- 
not, by our political influence, aspire to be the empire 
state of the confederacy. But there is a nobler em- 
pire, whose dominion does not come by numbers, or 
by physical power. We may aspire, if we are just 
to ourselves and to our opportunities, to wield the 
suffrages of mind. The men of Athens were but 
few, their territory small, their soil indifferent. Yet 
did Athenian arms prevail against the myriads of the 
East ; and to Athenian letters and Athenian arts, ad- 
miring nations still award the palm. In the same 
noble lists, let us engage ; and make the mastery of 
intellect the prize of our ambition. Let us devote 
ourselves, and consecrate the State, to the great work 
of education. Let us lay hold in earnest of the re- 
markable advantages which we possess, in this re- 
spect, in our accessible position, our temperate cli- 
mate, our freedom from absorbing interests, the mo- 
derate habits, and the simple manners of our people. 
Let us sustain our present seats of learning, and 
let kindred institutions, in every varied form, be mul- 
tiplied about LIS. Let us collect the children of the 
land : and on their minds make the mark which 



12 

shall go down to latest generations. Let other states 
excel in commerce, or in agriculture, or in manufac- 
turies. But let the staple of our state be mind ; the \ 
products of our soil, with God to bless the culture, / 
knowledge and patriotism and virtue; our highest 
object and our noblest aim, to be the state of Com- 
mon Schools, Academies and Colleges, the educating J 
state, the nursery of freemen. 

George W. Doane, Chairman, 

Lucius Q. C. Elmer, 

Morgan J. Rhees, 

Theodore Frelinghuysen, 

James S. Green, 

Daniel B. Ryall, 

Albert B. Dod, 

A. Atwood, 

Samuel R. Gummere. 

Trenton, February 27, 1838. 



SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE CONVENTION FOR COMMON SCHOOLS. 



A large number of delegates, from the different counties of New 
Jersey, composing a Convention for the purpose of considering the 
subject of public instruction, assembled in Trenton, on the 16jh of 
January, and continued in session two days, Chief Justice Horn- 
blower presiding. Besides transacting other business, the Conven- 
tion adopted the following Resolutions: 

1. Resolved, That this Convention recognize the principle, that it is the 
duty of every government, and especially of every republican state, to provide 
for the education of the children of its citizens. 

2. Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention, the general laws of 
this State on the subject of Common Schools, are essentially defective, and ought 
to be repealed. 

3. Resolved, That the want of full and definite infoimation respecting the 
destitution of our State, and of the peculiar difficulties to bo overcome in the 
establishment of a complete and satisfactory system, renders it highly important 
that some efficient measures should be adopted to supply this deficiency, and 
bring before the people, in all parts of the State, this important subject. 

4. Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention, one of the most effi- 
cient measures that can be adopted for tlie promotion of Common School educa- 
tion, would be the appointment, by the State, of a Superintendent of Common 
Schools, wifh a sufficient salary to enable him to devote his whole time and 
attention to the subject. 

5. Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare and publish, in such 
manner as they may think proper, an Address to the people of this State, on 
the subject of Common Schools ; and to take such other measures to promote 
the objects of this Convention as they shall think proper. 

6. Resolved, That a Committee of Correspondence be appointed for each 
county of the state, whose duty it shall be to collect information, and co-operate 
with the General Committee, in promoting the objects of this Convention ; and 
that said Committee be authorized to fill any vacancies that may happen in their 
number, and to appoint additional members of their respective Committees, if 
they shall deem it proper. 

7. i2e«ofoeJ, That the people of New Jersey cannot, injustice to themselves, 
longer neglect a Common School system, especially when they reflect that nearly 
all the other states in the Union are giving praiseworthy attention to the subject. 

8. Resolved, That the education of the people is indispensable to the preser- 
vation of our free institutions. 

9. Resolved, That the Committees of Correspondence in the several counties 
be requested to take immediate measures to induce the inhabitants of the several 
townships in their respective counties to consider the subject of Common School 
education, and to appoint in each of said townships a Committee of three or 
more persons, who are requested forthwith to organize themselves by appoint- 
ing a Chairman, and then proceed to collect all necessary and useful statistical 
information in relation to Common Schools, within their township ; and the said 
Township Committees to make report thereof as soon as practicable to the Com- 



14 

mittee of Correspondencs of the counly, and render all other aid in their power 
to promote the cause of education. 

10. Resolved, That there be an annual Convention of the friends of educa- 
tion in New .Jersey, to be held in the city of Trenton, on the Tuesday preceding 
the third Wednesday in January. 

The General Committee appointed under the fifth resolution con- 
sists of the following persons, — The Rt. Rev. G. W. Doane, Lucius 
Q. C.^Elmer, Rev. Morgan J. Rhees, Hon, Theodore Frelinghuysen, 
James S. Green, Daniel B. Ryall, Rev. Frof. Dod, Samuel R. Gum- 
mere, and the Rev. A. Atwood. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE. 

The General Committee appointed by the Convention for Com- 
mon Schools, " to prepare and publish, in such manner as they may 
think proper, an Address to the people of this State, on the subject of 
Common Schools, and to take such other measures to promote the 
objects of the Convention as they may think proper," met, by appoint- 
ment, at Trenton, on Tuesday, February 27, the Rt. Rev. Geo, VV. 
Doane, Chairman, and Samuel R. Gummere, Secretary. 
/ The Chairman, in accordance with previous arrangements, pre- 
^ senled the draft of an Address to the people of New Jersey on the 
' subject of Common Schools, which was read and approved, and one 
thousand copies ordered to be printed for distribution under the direc- 
tion of the Committee, 

The Secretary was instructed to take charge of the printing of the 
Address, and to cause such number of copies as he might think pro 
per to be forwarded to the Chairman of the Committee of Corres- 
pondence in each county, with the request that, so far as possible, 
meetings of the people in the several townships might be held, at 
which the Address should be read. He was also instructed to ask 
insertion for the Address in the several newspapers printed in the 
State. 

The new county of Mercer having been created since the sitting of 
the Convention, the following persons were appointed the Committee 
of Correspondence, Richard S. Field, Rev, Eli F. Cooley, Timothy 
Abbott, Jun., Richard J. Bond, and Dr. J. B. Coleman. 

The Chairman and Secretary were authorised to address a special 
Circular to the Committees of Correspondence for the several coun- 
ties, stating the result of Legislative action on the subject of Com- 
mon Schools, and urging upon them the necessity of arousing public 
attention to the importance of the subject, with a view to fuller and 
more satisfactory results. It was also ordered that such interroga- 
tories on the subject of public education as may produce the " full 
and definite information" alluded to in the third resolution, bead- 
dressed to the County Committees, and their attention in procuring 
and forwarding replies be respectfully solicited. 

The Chairman was authorised to call the Committee together, 
whenever he shall deem it necessary. 



CIRCULAR 

TO THE COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Gentlemen, 

You have seen in the Summary of Procceedings of the General Commit- 
tee appointed by the Convention for Common Schools, that we are authorised 
to address you on the subject of our important trust. Our first duty is to in- 
form you as to the position in which the matter was left by the Legislature, 
which has recently adjourned. Our second, to invite your co-operation, in 
arousing public attention to the importance of the cause, and thus procuring, at 
the hands of another Legislature, a more satisfactory result. 

It was unfortunate for the cause of public education that the popular move- 
ment on the subject did not occur at an earlier period. Had the members of 
the Legislature enjoyed the opportunity which was afforded to us who remained 
at home of thus learning the wishes of the people, they would have been better 
prepared to meet them. As it was, a Bill was reported to the house of Assem- 
bly, which, though not all that was desired, contained many excellent features, 
and was well calculated, especially in its provision of a Superintendent of Com- 
moif Schools, to secure a good beginning of the work. It passed the House by 
a vote of full two thirds, but was lost, as to its main provisions, in the Council. 
The present result, is that instead of $20,000 as before, $30,000 are to be distri- 
buted among the townships for the support of Common Schools ; and, inasmuch 
as the whole subject is left, as before, without system, without immediate super- 
vision, and with but little accountability, to be distributed, we fear, with about 
the same results. 

Such is not the state of things contemplated by the Convention, or by their 
constituents. The subject must go back then to the highest authority in the 
State, the Sovereign People. It is for them to say what they desire, and what 
they are resolved to have. The Legislature which shall be elected with a know- 
ledge of their will, may be relied on for its full accomplishment. It is upon you, 
Gentlemen, as the Committees of Correspondence for the counties, that the Con- 
vention relies, for awakening their attention to the subject, and for securing such 
an expression of their wishes as must be understood and shall be felt. 

The best means for attaining this result is indicated in the ninth resolution 
of the Convention — the appointment of a Committee in every township. To 



16 

this important measure we respectfully solicit your immediate attention. It is 
thus that the link is to be formed by which the electric chain will be completed that 
shall unite the Convention with every citizen of New Jersey, and bring up from 
every citizen, to the seat of government, and to the Legislature of the State in a 
way that cannot be mistaken, the expression of his will. 

When the Township Committees shall be organized, the charge of collecting 
the popular will in their respective sphere may safely be reposed in them ; and it 
is the recommendation of the General Committee that as soon as possible after 
their appointment, they invite the people, in their primary assemblies, to hear the 
Address, to consider the subject, and to take such measures as to them may 
seem expedient. To the copies of the Address directed to the several town- 
ships in your respective counties, you are respectfully requested to give such 
direction as will most speedily and most effectually secure the desired result. 

It is not necessary to suggest to you the various ways in which the duty as- 
signed by the Cor.vention to you, "to operate with the General Committee," may 
best be discharged. The importance of the interest involved calls for the exer- 
tion by every lover of his country of all the influence which he possesses. By 
public meetings, through the press, in your occasional and daily intercourse with 
your fellow citizens, you will find constant Opportunity ; and the State can ask 
no better pledge than your well known intelligence and patriotism, that you will 
faithfully improve it. 

To aid you in the discharge of the other duty assigned to you by the sixth 
resolution, " to collect information," and to secure a general uniformity in the 
results, we send with the Circular several interrogatories, to whieh we respect- 
fully request returns, as full as can be had, to be forwarded to the Secretary, at 
Burlington, before the third Tuesday in September next. On the completeness 
of these returns, the excellence of the system to be devised will much depend. 

With a full confidence in the goodness of the cause we have in hand, we 
leave it, with you ; well assured that there needs no better motive to your exer- 
tion than the recorded sentiment of the Convention, the noble blazon of its radi- 
ant and triumphant banner — the education of the people is indispensable to free 
institutions ! 

George W. Doane, Chairman. 
Samuel R. Gummere, Secretanj. 



J. L. Powell, Missionary Press, 

Burliupton, New Jersey. 



OFFICERS OF THE CONVENTION. 

President — Chief Justice Josj;i'h C. Hohsblowkb; 

Vice Presidents — L. Q. C. Elmki!, Amhaiiam WESTEUVhLT, William T. 
RoGF.Ks, Daniel B. Ryali,. P. B. Kennedy, L. W. R. Philips, E. 
Maksh, Jakes S. Giieen, Dn J. S. Mulfoui)", John Ghiscom ; 

Secretaries — Samuel R. Gummeue, Thomas A. Alexanmeh ; 

General Committee — Geouge W. Loane, Chairman ; Lucms Q. C Elmer, 
Morgan J. Rhees, Theoboiie Frelinghotsen, James S. Green, 
Daniel B. Rtall, Albert B. Doj), A. Atwood; Samuel R. Gum- 
.11EKE, Sccretorv. 



COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE. 

Beugkn — E. R. V, Wrighv, lloboken ; Garret Sip, Dudley Gregory, Abraham 
Westervelt, A. O. Zahriskie. 

Essex — Willam Halse)', Aewar/c ,- A. H. Henderson, John P. Jackson, John 
Dow, David Magic. 

Passatc — Andrew PAXi\nriS; Puterson ; Peter M. Ryerson, Eiias J. Marsh, 
John D. Keiley, E. B. D. Ogden, 

MouRis — Riciiaid Stiles, JMorrisi r.vn ; Lewis Condit, Jr., J. J. Johnsoa, J. 
L. Day, S. Galloway. 

StrssKx — Job S. Halsted, A''ewtou i Whitfield S.Johnson, Francis Moran, 
Daniel Haines, Thomas Teasdale. .* . \ 

Warui.x — I. N. Candce, Belvidere ; Pclcr B. Shaffer, Isaac N. Winnei, R. 
Byingion. J. M. Sherrcrd. 

Somerset — Wiiliani T. Rodgers, S'jinervH'e ; Charles Whitehead, E. L. B. 
Baldwin, Abraham Messier, Thomai A. Harlwell. 

Middlesex — E. C. Wines, Princeton ; James Zabriskie, Jacob Edmunds, 
Geo.F. Webb. 

Mercer— R. S. Field, Princeton , E. E. Cooley,-T. Abbott, Richard I. Bond, 
Dr. Coleman. 

Hlnteudox — Peter I.Clark, Flen-.iitfton ; Charles Bartolett, Charles George, 
Alexander Wurtz. 

Monmouth — D. V. McLean, Freehold ; William Little, James Lawrence, 
Andrew Simpson, I. K. Lippincott. 

Burlington — Samuel Aaron, Bn.iington ; Thomas Milnor, Wm. R. Allen, 
George Y. Morehouse, George Gaskill. 

Gloucester — Isaac S. Mulford, Camden; Josiah Tatum, John Gill, Jr., J. Ji. 
Woart, Abraham Browning. 

Salem — E. G. Pre^cott, Salem ,• Alexander Heberton, Calvin Belden, Jacob 
W. Mulford, Josiah M. Reeve. -* 

Cumberland — Daniel Elmer, Bridgeton ; William B. Ewing, William S. 
Bowen, Isaac Townsend, Jr., Isaac A. Sheppard. ' 

Atlantic — Joseph Leeds, Letch' Point ; Powden Ryon, S. B, Westcott. 

Cape Mat — Moses Williaiiison, Cold Spring; Israel Townsend, Josiah 
Swain, Jr. 



